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S. Porter—A West Indian Diary



protected throughout the French South Sea Possessions. But it

seems almost impossible to enforce regulations on such remote and

scattered islands.


Let us hope that the Blue Lories will do well in captivity. The

pair which has been deposited at the London Zoo for over a year

seems to be in perfect condition and to live happily in a cage in the

Parrot house, on the ordinary fruit and honey mixture used for all

brushed-tongued Parrots. If they could be bred and propagated

in aviaries, one of the most interesting of the genera of birds threatened

with extinction could be saved.


The Tahiti Lory is very dark blue, with snowy white face, ear-

coverts, throat, and upper breast. The Ultramarine Lory ( C . ultra-

marinus), from the Marquesas Islands, is prettier still: light sea blue

above, with a dark blue cap and breast-band, the rest of the under¬

parts mottled white and blue ; bill black. Some pairs of the latter

species have also just been imported, and it is said to be even scarcer

in its native country than the Tahiti Lory.



A WEST INDIAN DIARY


By S. Porter

{Continued from p. 59)


Jamaica


We had lain at anchor over night in the beautiful Kingston Harbour.


A serene tropical dawn stole softly over the sky revealing a picture of

dreamlike fantasy ; the great Blue Mountains in the background j

towering into the, as yet, pale blue sky. The lowlands at the base

were veiled with a white heat mist, an indication of the heat that would

follow. The sea was calm and blue as it only can be on a morning in

the tropics. It was still and calm, so still that never a leaf of the palm

trees shivered, not a breath of wind ruffled the glass-like surface of the

ocean. The only sound that broke the stillness of that early morning

as the light got brighter on that perfect June day was the chorus

of feathered songsters that floated over the waters from the palm-fringed

shores over half a mile away. For half an hour the peace was like that



